Voting System Idea: Post Design

[WME3]

Now, I heard that WMM may be undergoing a redesign soon. I will get to how that ties in with this topic later down in the post.

The idea:

Its nice to be able to scour the library of files for a specific file, and find a plethora to taste and sample. All of them are labeled, so its an easy enough system to follow and maintain.
In finding a file, some decisions to download are cut and dry. Its clear from the get go this is what you want.

Its difficult to overlook these behemoth files, spanning thousands of downloads and an impressive track record of prior performances.
These files essentially staples.

What about the newer files, where there is no guarantee that the file will do what it says? No promises, just one listen, and you decide weather one file deserves to be shared, or another to be shaved.

There are some new files that impress, some that do a mediocre job, and then there's the filler fluff.

The problem is that very few people take advantage of this opportunity. A large majority of files, if not all, have somewhere between 0 to 2 dozen votes on them. Contrast to how many people actually download files, and less than 1% of downloaders actually vote.


If you don't want to comment, you still leave that user a vote. All it takes is a click, and you've helped out.


Thousands of files are downloaded daily. This means that while people are finding what works for them,
and chances are it could work for someone else,
we see only a few voters representing this vast majority, and see even fewer written opinions.

Now, I heard that WMM may be undergoing a redesign, maybe soon, maybe not. So here is an idea that would be easy to implement, promotes personal contribution, and community growth;

Add badges and/or achievements that can be displayed on a forum members' page, posts, etc. ?

Not just for voting or comments, but for contributing files? Subscription?
Unique community badges, and time spent on the website are all ideas.

Hell, if there are any badges you wouldn't want to show anyone, make badges optional!
Give users the option to only show badges they want, don't show any at all, or show them all!

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TL;DR:
Add badges in the site redesign (ex: 1 year member, contributor, commenter, personalized badges, etc), give members the option to hide their own badges (select/all), and display them in profiles/forum Signatures, etc.
Personalization and achievement!

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As an extra idea;

I'm not sure how the current way of deciding files are good or not, but why not allow a section for up and coming files that have to be evaluated by trusted volunteers in the community in order to be added to the long list of hypnosis files here?
These people don't even have to be mods, but could just be long time users, with a good history for giving reviews, votes, and contributions. They can take up the responsibility and vote on a new file prior to introduction to the main list of hypnotic files if the file is good enough, or can get canned if it is just swinging for a subscription renewal.

The peer reviewed group can be handpicked, or not. However, whether it is done as their own subscription is an incentive to do this, it would be recommend that the ones reviewing the files have their own subscriptions already.

Sample Criteria:
Make the file reach a certain level of success before a subscription is attached. Like at least 2 out of 5 for 10-20 votes / xx downloads.

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TL;DR:

Do what Ne)wgr0nds did, and offer a community evaluated section dedicated to voting on new submissions. So that, by votes from regular users, they can can stop or admit files from coming in, and by doing this reward those who vote right, or submit files worth downloading.

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My two cents.

[EMG]

That's not bad, I will have to consider it. It may not happen in V1, of the new site, but the site will be an ongoing thing